VIJAYAWADA: Heavy rains that lashed the State in November affected several standing crops in both Kharif and Rabi seasons. Crops including paddy, groundnut, cotton, bengal gram in an extent of 4,88,761 hectares were affected. Heavy damages were reported in Kadapa, Anantapur, East Godavari, Guntur, Kurnool and Prakasam districts.
According to a report prepared by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, 10,19,793.86 metric tonnes of crops were lost due to heavy rains and floods. In monetary terms, the crop loss was put at Rs 2,779.39 crore.
When district-wise losses are taken into consideration, Kadapa district topped the list with crop loss in 1,59,98.63 hectares, followed by Anantapur with 1,11,610.15 hectares, East Godavari with 70,597.15 hectares and Guntur with 52,643 hectares. In terms of loss of production, East Godavari topped the chart with 3,06,577 metric tonnes, followed by Kadapa with 2,12,551.72 metric tonnes, Guntur 1,46,292.16 metric tonnes and Anantapur 1,23,769.72 tonnes.
In terms of monetary loss, Kadapa topped the list with Rs 718.36 crore, followed by East Godavari with Rs 598.38 crore, Anantapur with Rs 494.43 crore and Guntur with Rs 289.53 crore.
In November, the state received 134.8 per cent surplus rainfall. As against 102.4 mm normal rainfall for the month, the State received 240.4 mm. Anantapur district received the highest surplus rainfall of 482.7 per cent. As against the normal rainfall of 34.7 mm, the district had received 202.2 mm rainfall. Kadapa with 320.4 per cent surplus rainfall stood second.
Against normal rainfall of 93.4 mm, the district had received 392.7 mm. Rainfall during the same period of previous year was 157.7 mm, excess being 54.0 per cent. The rainfall was excess (+20% & above) in all districts. Out of 670 mandals, only one mandal has received scanty rainfall, 12 mandals have received deficit rainfall, 65 mandals received normal rainfall and 592 excess rainfall.
During the North East Monsoon period from October 1, to November 30 this year, 214 mandals experienced dry spells, out of which 213 mandals have single dry spells, 1 mandal has double dry spell.
